Lopez Protests Five Years of War in Iraq

New Priorities Vigil
Tibetans are not the only ones protesting these days. As the United States commemorates five years of war in Iraq.










Organized Nationwide by MoveOn.org
Lopez village- across from the Love Dog
Lopez Village Event
19 Mar, 5:00 PM
We will have New Priorities vigil to mark the 5th year of the Iraq war, and to express the hope that our priorities will turn away from war in the future.
Address: Lopez Village (Map)
Location: Lopez, WA 98261
Host: Ann Marie Fischer
Status: Public, open for RSVP, 3 Guests (Max 50)

Tibet: Police Open Fire On Protesters

Crackdown Continues Resulting in Casualties

Sakya on San Juan

Sakya Kachod Choling ~ On San Juan Island

One of my dear readers gently pointed out to me that though she appreciated my recent posts, wasn't I getting rather far afield from being "On San Juan Island"? And "when was I coming back"? While it is true I could hardly get further from San Juan Island than Tibet and yet, as a Buddhist and member of the Tibetan Buddhist center on San Juan Island I feel a personal connection.

I also feel it is my duty as a citizen blogger living in a country where we still have freedom of speech to speak out when authorities clamp down on communications just as Buddhist monks are getting beaten up, arrested and worse. My first political posts where about the situation in Burma. Please indulge me dear readers and I promise to bring it all back home.

My Teacher, Lama Jetsun Kushok

Unseen Dharamsala

Unseen Dharamsala

Yongdon: Tibetan Photographer and Blogger

Photos of Refuge Life Taken by Refugees

Please visit this blog from Dharamsala,
"An innovative arts project for Tibetan refugees
to describe their lives through photography."

Ritual
photo: Sopa

Chinese Crackdown in Lhasa

Riots Blaze in Lhasa

Smoke Rises as Riots Continue in Lhasa Tibet

Due to the Chinese crackdown in Lhasa Tibet the above photo from TimesOnline.UK above was the only image I could find of Lhasa. According to the BBC Three monasteries have been shut down, communications have been cut off, roadways blocked and monks are being beaten and arrested. Tibetans have taken down the Chinese flag and set fire to Chinese businesses and cars.
The sound of gunfire has been reported.

I cannot hear about the arrests of Tibetan Monks by Chinese authorities without remembering Palden Gyatso's visit to Friday Harbor. Palden Gyatso spoke at Skagit Valley Collage. This wily monk, small, with big ears, almost yoda-like, spoke of his experiences as a Chinese prisoner for 31 years. Gyatso made it his mission to smuggle instruments of torture out of Tibet to show the world what the Chinese were doing. The reason he has no teeth is because the Chinese stuck an electric cattle prod in his mouth. That has not stopped him from speaking out. I had his book, The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk for a while before I read it. Knowing about the torture I was afraid it would be a dreary read and yet once I started reading it I was riveted. Gyatso's story is an action packed adventure as well as an inspiration.

Meanwhile, here in the land of the free and the home of the brave George Bush just vetoed a bill banning torture. Republican presidential candidate John McCain supported George Bush's position defending the use of torture including water-boarding. The vetoed bill would have restricted the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual.

100 Tibetan Exiles Arrested

MORE THAN 100 ARRESTED TIBETANS
BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE

Photo:ARP

According to UK Associated Press more than 100 Tibetans were arrested by Indian officials this morning in Northern India. Beginning on Monday the Tibetans who are joined by 9 citizens of the US, Scotland, Germany, Poland and Australia commemorated the 1959 Tibetan uprising against China by undertaking a march from Dharmsala, India, the home of Tibetan government in exile, to Tibet, planning to reach Tibet in time to coincide with the start of the Beijing Olympic Games. Demonstrations in support of Tibetan freedom are taking place all over the world including a protest by 300 Buddhist Monks in Tibet's capital city of Lhasa. The protesters began a hunger strike within hours after being arrested.

Icelandic Artist Björk Sings, Declare Independence
for Tibet at Shanghi Concert
Bjork now banned in China

"Its lyrics include: "Don't let them do that to you. Raise your flag!"

Quest For The Almighty Spud

The Continuing History of San Juan Island:

Quest For the Mighty Spud.

The Mighty Spud

In those early days leading up to the Pig War, San Juan Island had plenty of fish and plenty of game. And what does a man need to go with his meat? Potatoes of course! Here we have Lyman Cutlar, another failed miner and a sure-shot from Kentucky, living on, what from all handed down reports, was a ramshackle homestead with his native wife and their child and he was in want of potatoes. In fact, so the story goes*, Cutlar wanted potatoes bad enough to row the 40 miles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend to purchase his seed potatoes. He then had to haul them up the hill from Granny's Cove and plant them in his, so they say, rather poorly fenced garden.

The Incoming Tide ~ Winslow Homer

*The Pig War: by Mike Vouri