Buddhist Thought

Buddha: One is the way to gain the other is the way to Nirvana. Knowing this fact, students of the Buddha should not take pleasure in being honored but should practice detachment.

oRigiNal

A poem
damon burns 2008

"I'M oRiGinaL!"

Music MAkeR, stylez creator
heart breaker
Love maker
vinyl -player
-dance floor- sound system -
Bo0tie Quaker
Thought provoker
blunt smokers
coke manipulator
money holder
ass smacker &
the hand clapper

To all the
Funk haters
mIc fakers
money takers
skin flayers
All ya'll diRty dick teaserz
Im fresh/till death

Well, I'm not sure where It's gOing &
Icould keep up flowing
Cuz it sure does feEl good
ShoWing ya'll
How to be original

I've got soMe more rhyme
If you'd give me some time
To re-explain
How to be Original

NumbEr1.
STop buyIng A syStem
thatz hastens ouR dying
En-sAlves babies wild cryings &
CrEates soul less clones
sans any oRigNal

Number2.
Do uR oWn thAng
but make it somEthing
that shows

Ur OriGinaL

Im fresh/till death

Premonition

From the Country
That eats
The most meat
And sits
On the highest cliff

The Future Chief
From Abraham
Shall win
The highest seat

Those in charge
Become alarmed
That change
Happens most
Too swift

They've never lost
And brought to us
At time
the greatest harm

A Plan hatched
By them
To kill the man
And replaced
With the womAn
From HilsLary

She approves the dudes
And then they move
To do the Final deed

To tie the hands
Of Future Plans
To secure her power Strong

One wonders why
Those alabie
Lie with the sweetest smile

They were the ghost
From dead waRs post
And fixed the fiRe bomb

To blow up when
His time begins
To start change
For the throngs

The Cost of War

With today being the five year anniversary of Bush war against Sanity I thought it approitate to post some sombering thoughts on this misguided path.

The dollar cost of invading and occupying a foreign country: over 400 Billion US dollars and counting!

Number of US soldiers/ and Iraqi citizens killed during Operation Iraqi freedom: over 3000 dead US solders and counting. Over 300,000 Iraqi's killed.

The most frequently cited figure is the 29,320 soldiers wounded in action in Iraq as of Thursday. But there have been 31,325 others treated for non-combat injuries and illness as of March 1.

Veterans Affairs predicts it will treat 330,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 — a 14 percent increase over the 2008 estimate of 263,000 — at a cost of nearly $1.3 billion.

For the 2009 budget, the White House requested $93.7 billion for the VA, including $41.2 billion for medical care for all veterans — not just those from Iraq and Afghanistan. That's an increase of $2.3 billion over the current budget.

Earlier this week, a federal judge in San Francisco held the first hearing in a class-action lawsuit filed by two vet groups, including Sullivan's, against the VA alleging their neglect in treating suicidal soldiers. The lawsuit asks that the VA immediately screen and treat all potentially suicidal veterans.

According to VA research obtained last month by The Associated Press, 144 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide from the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 through the end of 2005. Statistics from 2006 and 2007 were not yet available.

In November, President Bush signed legislation directing the VA to improve its mental health training for staff and do a better job of evaluating and treating veterans.

The Associated Press News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.

A Late Night After the Beach

Music and I had busy days yesterday. We spent time with friends out at Baker Beach in Geoffrey's RV. Three humans and three canines meant there was perfect numerical balance.

The weather was bracing but the sun was setting in the West and the sky was mostly clear. Our local Ocean was not so passive today! It pounded onto the beach sending tall waves toward us much faster than the dogs could get away from. As if they really didn't want to get wet and sandy??! A couple times I found myself running up the beach to avoid getting wet and cold shoes. The pups loved it tho spending- most of the time herding each other, playing fetch, keep away and tag.

A perfect sunset with friends and the dogs. Ahhh, perfect!

After taking 330 photos, eating Burger king and arriving home it was time for a hot bath and some sleep for me and my canine companion.

I woke up around 1:30am and here I am.

Early morning has arrived in Fog City. Soon sleep will over take me again. Here are a few pics from the beach with Music, Geoffrey, Tony, Howie, Donna and me.

Damon Burns.

Enjoy. Ciao main!

Photos..Yes..Again

Buddhist thought for the Week

Keep it simple; as simple as posible, but no simpler. - Albert Einstein

Status Report

The last month has been an interesting and at times painful one.

Reason one for it being painful is that I hurt myself lifting weights about three weeks ago. I was training my legs and decided to continue adding weight when I should have eased up. All of a sudden I felt the sharpest of pains in my lower back which ended the days weight training.

After dealing with pain, stiffness and major discomfort I finally felt well enough to return to the gym today where Jimmy and I had a very invigorating chest workout. We stretched a good deal before lifting weights which I hope will now become a pattern with us.

Another major development is that I've gotten a dog named Music. Thanks to my friend Geoffrey who researched and found me the sweetest dog. She's a bit shy with me at times and acts nervous but I'm trying to win her over best I can with love, loads of walks and lots of treats.

Also, I've been busy DJ-ing, making music and taking a good deal of photographs of the City and State I love so much!

My emotional health has been steady of late. I worry about Aaron in Iraq a bit to much and sometimes stress out over the direction of my life and worry about the State of Mankind.

I try to balance out theses negative thoughts with meditation and mental relaxations exercises. Now that I can work out again hopefully I wont enternalize any hurtful feelings or thoughts for long.

Things are and have been ok for sure. Everyone deals with stress and why should I be any different?

I just wish I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. If there is even such a thing!!!

Sigh.

Until next time.

Ciao main.

Photos

Happy Birthday Geoffrey

I'm grateful for your friendship. Happy birthday darling and I hope we get to spend many more as friends!

Buddhist thought for the Week

But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest. - Buddha

Debut March 5th 2008

Music's PhotoShoot

Heres a letter a very good friend wrote to our leaders in Washington and Sacramento. It's contains a lot of important ideas and thoughts from my friend Mitch Star. To get in touch with Mitch to provide
any help, ideas or thoughts feel free to email him at:

Mitch4Assembly@aol.com.

With out futher ado:
********************

Saturday, March 1, 2008
Dear Friends:

My name is Mitch Star. I live in Orange County California. I wanted to talk to you about an issue that's very important to me and that is the issue of HIV/AIDS in America.
I was reading in the news today about the White House and Congresses plans to increase the budget for aid to Africa
for people living with HIV/AIDS. I agree completely that more needs to be done in that region of the world to combat the growing numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, but I urge you not to forget about those of us here in the United States who currently are living with this disease.
Budget cuts here in the United States especially in California are making life for people like me very difficult. Programs I rely on for help are being forced to deny service. Because of such cuts I was told by a social security worker that I was “not dying enough” to qualify, and at that time I had a CD4 count of 34 and a viral load in the millions. My health has since improved, but I am still haunted by this.
I am a 27 year old uninsured person living with HIV. I was infected with HIV in October 2005 as a result of being drugged while out with friends at a bar and attacked. I was found by paramedics in an alley and woke up at San Francisco General Hospital. My doctors knowing this had happened failed to test me for HIV. Over the period of a year and a half I was hospitalized 4 times with severe fevers and what I thought was the flu. The doctors did a lot of blood work but it was not found that I was HIV Positive till February 2007 when I collapsed on my bathroom floor and went into septic shock. At the time they did test for other STDs but an HIV test was never run. After I was told I was septic and that I was in fact HIV Positive the doctors told me there was a chance that I would not survive because going septic is very serious.
After a few days of intense treatment I did get better, and was released from the hospital. My doctor told me I was unable to go back to work because my health was not stable enough. I applied for disability. The process took over 5 months, and during that time I was told because my rent was too high I did not qualify for any type of general assistance. The day after I got out of the hospital my roommates ran out on me leaving me to try to pay for my apartment by myself thus starting a legal battle with the landlord. State Assemblyman Mark Leno's Office was AMAZING in helping me get resources, and also helped me in getting assistance from the AIDS Housing Alliance. I do not believe in my heart that it should take 5 months to qualify for disability. When I applied for State Disability they told me my former company had a private short term disability policy and they had to wait 90 days for them to figure out if they were going to pay it or of the state was going to pay it. After the 90 days passed I was told that I had to wait even longer because it had been referred to a 3rd party administrator to decide and that person had 90 days to decide. I was also told during this time that I did not qualify for Social Security Disability and to appeal would take 5 more months. So from Feb-May I had ZERO help. I lost my apartment and was forced to move back to Southern California where my family was on June 1st 2007.
When I got back to Southern California I had no idea on what to do. My doctors and social workers in San Francisco had no idea where I should go to get resources because California does not have a state wide directory unlike other states do that show resources. I was able after a few months of research to get tapped into the Orange County AIDS Services Foundation, and I must tell you these people are amazing. My one year anniversary of being diagnosed with HIV was in February 2008 I thank God everyday that I am still here. I survived 1 year, and have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. I am here today because of places like Ward 86 which is an HIV/AIDS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital and the Orange County AIDS Services Foundation. Both places faced massive budget cuts and were forced to make changes to their programs. Some doctors were forced to go part time and patients were forced to see other doctors because of these cuts.
I am telling you my story today in hopes of being able to put a face with this disease, and to show you how real people like me and the millions of other people who are infected with this disease are affected by the decisions that are made in Washington, and in state capitols all over the nation. I am trying to get invited to testify before Congress and the Senate in regard to Health Care. I also want to talk about being an uninsured American as well as what my experience has been living with AIDS, and what it’s been like dealing with current Government Programs in regard to treatment and support. I think this is an issue that needs to be talked about more.
I am asking for your help in assisting me in putting pressure on our public officials to stop cutting HIV/AIDS funding here in America. Myself and other young people like me are the new face of this disease. Everyday more and more young people in this country are becoming infected at an alarming rate. I think by telling my story I can perhaps get through to people. I think one person can change the lives of many, and I know by talking about it we can finally end the stigma that surrounds it.
This is an issue that is so very important to me. I am in the fight of my life for my life and I want to help others who have to deal with the same issues that I do. I do a lot of public speaking on this issue especially to youth groups. My story is all too common here in California and I hope by hearing it I could help save the lives of other young people who have this disease, or could potentially contract it. People especially the youth need to see that just because you have HIV it doesn't mean that your life is over, and that you can survive even under the worst circumstances. By me talking about my experiences it helps me deal with it myself. I would love to speak as well as be apart of any event or group that you feel would benefit from hearing my story.
Attached to the bottom of this email is something I think you should read. It was published by Poz.com which is an HIV website, and it talks about the budget cuts to programs to the Inland Empire. I found it very interesting and it goes to show what budget cuts do to organizations. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support on this issue. I look forward to speaking with you soon, and continuing the dialogue on HIV/AIDS here in America.

Best Wishes,


Mitch Star