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Irrigators regulate the waters; arrow-makers straighten arrow shafts; carpenters shape wood; and the good control themselves. Dhammapada 145

Actually he quotes Ghandi . I won't put it here b/c of the beautiful simplicity of Andrew's formatting.

I'm listening to " Speaking of Faith "(if you're interested in how people spiritually deal with various social & personal issues you need to check out this show), the episode with Mariane Pearl and I have to tell you that the movie, A Mighty Heart , might be the perfect role for Angelina Jolie . Doing a little google search on the movie I found this picture (left) of her in the role I am convinced that this will be "the one" for Angelina. As I am listening to Mariane Pearl (below) I hear attitude, intelligence and this sexy French accent. On top of it all she is quite attractive. Who knows what the movie will actually bring but on face value Angelina is perfect.

To my mind, democracy is more compassionate, more harmonious, more friendly than any other system. It respects others' rights and considers others equally as human brothers and sisters. Although you might disagree with them, you have to respect their wishes. His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I haven't watched BET in so long and I completely missed the news that Reggie Hudlin was taking over. This is such a smart move, Reggie has sense, he's creative and his heart seems to be in the right place - that makes him an anomaly in the entertainment CEO landscape, doesn't it? Reading this article he seems to be staying the course, his course. "The black audience wants to be respected," he told The Associated Press . "They want quality programs that respect their intelligence. It better be hip, it better be innovative and be as fresh as possible." I wish him well and hope BET finally broadcasts something worth while.

They, the enlightened, intent on jhana*, delighting in stilling & renunciation, self-awakened & mindful: even the devas view them with envy. Dhammapada, 14, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu *Jhana is a meditative state of profound stillness and concentration in which the mind becomes fully immersed and absorbed in the chosen object of attention. It is the cornerstone in the development of Right Concentration.

What does it mean that Tower is out of business? The closing of the flagship location of Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood is another shining example of the illness that has infected the music business. Feeding on executive arrogance and technological fear – the pompous geniuses who run today’s media conglomerates and so called major record labels are much to blame for the loss of such an icon. It was on their watch that the music business has gone from a 30 billion dollar business per year (domestically) to one that sells about one third of that now. For the music business, the fall of the Roman Empire has taken a little more than a decade. Read this

The brahman Dona saw the Buddha sitting under a tree and was impressed by his peaceful air of alertness and his good looks. He asked the Buddha: "Are you a god?" "No, brahman, I am not a god." "Then an angel?" "No, indeed, brahman." "A spirit, then?" "No, I am not a spirit." "Then what are you?" "I am awake." Anguttara Nikaya

To study the Buddha is to study oneself. To study oneself is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to be enlightened by the myriad dharmas. The be enlightened by the myriad dharmas is to bring about the dropping away of body and mind of both oneself and others. The traces of enlightenment come to an end, and this traceless enlightenment is continued endlessly. Dôgen, " Flowers Fall "

Even Bobby Brown had it going on...

They're easy to do-- things of no good & no use to yourself. What's truly useful & good is truly harder than hard to do. Dhammapada, 7, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Working at Davis-Kidd allowed me to see how prevalent and disgusting the self-help industry. There is a cure-what-ails-you, fix-what-your-parents-broke book for everything you can imagine. Some of the problems with this industry, as I see them, are that they all blame somebody else for everything, there are very few that tell the reader to take responsibility or maybe even "just deal with it" and they try to give you immediate fixes for things that should take a long time. You shouldn't be able to get out of debt tomorrow or overcome procrastination in 8 days or whatever they proclaim. None ever talk about patience or diligence. Some of them are huge sellers; you name a diet book, the Purpose Driven Life , and Rich Dad, Poor Dad . Some of them will surely help people but I think a vast majority of the people will get nothing more than excuses and bad habits. Here is a link to a Motley Fool article about the fallacy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The Five Precepts For the purpose of training I vow to refrain from taking life. For the purpose of training I vow to refrain from taking what is not given. For the purpose of training I vow to refrain from sexual misconduct. For the purpose of training I vow to refrain from false speech. For the purpose of training I vow to refrain from intoxicants which lead to carelessness. translated by Gil Fronsdal

I didn't learn anything in Econ 101 . I spent more time making fun of the teacher's accent than anything. She, my teacher , is friends with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner ! the Story

There is no fire like greed and no crime like hatred. There is no sorrow like being bound to this world; there is no happiness like freedom. Dhammapada

Here Sullivan references Bill Clinton to explain how GW and his crew have totalled our already wrecked political system (my words, not his). Sullivan says: in this election, the Democrats are the only way to stop the abuse of power now dominant in the GOP leadership

Different movies, different vibes, different stories. I've not read any Truman Capote , I was never interested. Earlier this year there was the Phillip Seymour Hoffman movie, Capote , I thought it was great. But now there is Infamous , an indi film about Truman writing In Cold Blood . Capote didn't make me want to read the book, Infamous did. Infamous is a very subtle story and I think has a much stronger emotional impact. It slowly sucks you in. I was amazed by Truman's boldness, egotistical attitude and manipulative abilities but there was such a sadness. I think some people would say that the Harper Lee (a very southern sounding, understated Sandra Bullock ) was too direct of a narrator (the action was interspersed with interviews with Truman's friends and acquaintances). She was there often and her "observations" of Truman came across, at times as directives to the audience. Overall, I liked this movie a lot and, like I said, I'm gonna read some

My Aunt has called me conservative for the last 5 or so years even though I worked for an environmental canvass organization, I smoked pot for a few years (did I admit that?), I have voted democrat since I was 16(although I voted for Nader in 2000 & 2004), I have had gay friends for over half my life (probably doesn't mean much to some but for somebody who grew up in the tradition I grew up in, I don't think that's too bad), and I married a woman who had no intention of changing her maiden name. Today on All Things Considered there was an interview with Andrew Sullivan , a gay, catholic, British conservative who disagrees with what seems like everything the neo -cons and other conservatives believe and say. I skimmed his blog and he makes a lot of sense. I liked what I heard and I guess if this is what my aunt means by conservative then I can handle it (I should probably read more of what he says before I completely align myself with him).

My street tends to be pretty apolitical, or at least, there is little overt political discussion. I rarely see yard signs, or even bumper stickers, but earlier this week I was going to the YMCA and a house on my street has a Chris Lugo for Senate sign. Yes, a Green Party supporter on my street. That's exciting to me! Election Stuff: Metro Election Commission East Nashville Green Party Harold Ford, Jr. Tennessee Democrats Tennessee Republicans Remember, people died so that ALL of us can vote.

The non-doing of any evil, the performance of what's skillful, the cleansing of one's own mind: this is the teaching of the Awakened. Dhammapada, 13, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

For those who aren't on the Davis Kidd email list. A Letter to Nashville's Book Lovers We'll soon be celebrating our one-year anniversary here in the new space at the Green Hills Mall, and we've heard lots of comments along the way -- some applause and also some constructive advice. We thought we'd take a minute to address the comments and questions that we've heard the most: Why did you move to the Mall? Davis-Kidd has continued to evolve through many changes over the past 25 years, and we really felt we needed a larger space to provide a more comfortable, more unique shopping environment worthy of our customers. With the exciting changes that have been occurring at Green Hills Mall, we felt it provided us the best option to relocate into a fresh, revitalized new space. Being able to maintain our own store front with parking in front of our store we felt would keep our profile at the level shoppers in Green Hills had come to expect. And with the excellent vari

Grimey's . It's the kind of place to drive people like Tara crazy but I and my record store junkie friends love rummaging through the bins of CDs, LPs and whatever else. If you have to walk over some CD boxes so be it, if you have to move a stack of CDs to get to another stack so be it, you just soak it all in. Not to mention events like: Robert Randolph Listening Party – Tuesday, October 10 @ Noon Join us at noon on a Tuesday for a lunchtime listening party for the new CD from Robert Randolph & The Family Band – Colorblind. It delves even deeper into a Sly Stone / Stevie Wonder funk bag and features guests Dave Matthews and Eric Clapton , but Randolph’s sacred steel stylings are the real show. We’ve got a boatload of hot wings from Mojo Grill on tap, plus some drinks and additional snacks. Skip out for lunch and we’ll feed you while we rock out to Colorblind. The new CD will be on sale and we’ll have some prizes and give-aways as well to sweeten the pot. HOWARD TATE