Latest Posts
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Confucius is Dead – and Koreans killed him…
…that, at least, is the thesis of a punchy op-ed in tomorrow’s (I love globalization!) Seoul Times by Taru Taylor. I’ll let him speak for himself: Neo-Confucianism killed Confucius. In other words, it stereotyped him. Confucius, the great… Continue reading
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Bush Lost The War
Now that the Senate has also passed a bill that sets a timetable for US withdrawal from Iraq, we are going to hear a lot of noise from Bush and company, and their ideological defenders in the media,… Continue reading
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Teenage Suicide: Losing Their Way
Another sad story about suicide in China: …Recent statistics from the Chinese Association of Mental Health show that suicide has become the No 1 killer of Chinese people between the ages of 15 and 34. Suicide accounted for… Continue reading
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Legal v. Moral
This story came across the news wires today: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld WASHINGTON — Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in… Continue reading
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Taoist Counterinsurgency
Getting ready for work this morning, I was, as usual, listening to NPR and was struck by a story on the difficulties US soldiers face in their counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Here’s a quote from the transcript: … Continue reading
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Farewell to my Blogfather
I must do the proper Confucian thing here and pay respects to my web "elder." To any of you who know the two of us, you may find it odd that I would refer to Marc… Continue reading
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Back Home
I am now more convinced than ever that the authors of the Tao Te Ching are wrong about traveling ("the farther you go, the less you know"). After a week in the Netherlands and France – a wonderful… Continue reading
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Mencius on Lying
The book Mencius differs from the Analects in that many of the passages in the former are longer and more elaborate than those of the latter. Mencius develops key points, engages ethical conundrums (might it be filial to… Continue reading
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Tell Rumsfeld He Better Watch Out
What Mencius might say to the former Secretary of Defense: It’s clear from this that Confucius deplored anyone enriching a ruler who didn’t practice Humane government. And he deplored even more people who waged war for such a… Continue reading
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Without Him
Aidan died a year ago today. Below the jump is something I wrote a few months ago but could not find a publisher for. I post it here as a part of his continuing presence in my life. Continue reading
The Useless Tree 