Democracy, and especially democracy in America, is a concept we usually take for granted. It means a vast variety of things: freedom, liberty, the right to vote, equal representation, freedom of religion, and so on. The world is now experiencing a vast upheaval throughout the Mideast and Arab countries; and for us here in the [...]
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jimhilgendorf1
Who are we? Buddhism has always looked deeply into this question. In “The Buddha and the Dream of America”, author James Hilgendorf ‘s new book, our deepest identity is at the very core of the answer – an identity that looks beyond the more common ways we identify ourselves, by religion, by gender, by ethnicity, [...]
Hiroshima Hibakusha – survivors of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb – are dwindling in number. They are the last remaining keepers of the record of what happened in Hiroshima that fatal day, August 6th, 1945, when the first nuclear weapon was unleashed upon a civilian population. That day was a pivotal point in human history. We [...]
A reading from his latest book, “The Buddha and the Dream of America“, by James Hilgendorf. More information about the book is available on the website of The Tribute Series. Other books by James Hilgendorf are “Life & Death: A Buddhist Perspective”; “The Great New Emerging Civilization“; and “The New Superpower.” All of his books [...]
For Decades – ever since the reforms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration – conservatives have been howling into the wind, trying to drum up opposition to Social Security, using every ploy in the book to destroy legislation that has benefited – and continues to benefit – millions upon millions of our elderly citizens. They will [...]
Ask randomly a hundred people in America whether they have an interest in Buddhism, and many will reply, in varying degrees of enthusiasm, yes. They may not know much about Buddhism, but their interest has been piqued by things they have heard or read or seen. Many of these people have turned away from organized [...]
Tax day has come and gone, and we had the Tea-Partiers making a lot of noise about taxes and big government. They proclaim a slide into socialism and the big hand of government and European socialism taking over all our lives. So you have paid your taxes. What are you getting? This is really the [...]
Something new is emerging in America. The bitter and fanatical cry of outrage from Republicans, conservatives and Tea-Partiers at the final passage of a first-ever national health care bill is the sign that something unusual is now coming to the fore in America. The rage, of course, is directed against Democrats, but its real target [...]
The country of Kazakhstan is not very well known in the United States, nor in many other places of the world. Ask someone in the U.S. about Kazakhstan, and many people will respond with “Borat.” The movie “Borat” was not even shot in Kazakhstan, but in Romania, and the scenes in the movie are a [...]
Great Leaders: The U.S., the Mideast & Elsewhere.
By jimhilgendorf1 on February 24th, 2011
A commentary on leaders appeared on one of the news programs this week. A young lady somewhere in the Mideast, amid all the turmoil unfolding around the world, gave her own assessment: “I don’t really care who our leaders are. I don’t feel it really matters. None of them are working for the people. They [...]