Even I'm not that lazy

Coming up this Saturday is the usual all-day sit -- from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. -- at the zen center I go to -- or so I thought. This morning after zazen there was a conversation in which I learned that Y. wants to cut the length of the event to 9:00 to 5:00 because he thinks the thirteen-hour schedule is too intimidating to newcomers. This shocked me, frankly. Francois, one of the residents, included me in the email thread later this morning, and I posted something to the effect that sitting at dawn is pretty basic to a meditation practice as far as I was concerned. I was gratified to see that some of the other lay members on the thread backed me up.

Actually I can't even do all day this time around, because on Saturday I have to prepare the house for Cris's birthday party that evening, and besides, my great friend Christine will be in town. But I did want to go at 5:00 for the first three sessions. So far it looks like it will be me and a few other people -- which is no different from most first Saturdays.

In other news, I was listening in my car today, as I do from time to time, to the local right-wing Christian radio station. And I heard two interesting things.

One was a little feature on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German anti-fascist pastor who was involved in plots to assassinate Hitler. The feature was a fairly straightforward recounting of his moral struggle to justify the use of violence (i.e. in killing Hitler) for a greater good (ending the war and Nazi tyranny). I thought to myself, "Uh oh, I can see what's coming." Sure enough, the moral of the story, as presented on the right-wing Christian radio station, was that war on Iraq was justified. So typical.

Hearing that didn't surprise me, but the next thing I heard did. The host of the evening live show, Craig Roberts, launched into an aggressive attack on Fred Phelps. The virulent anti-gay "preacher" is reportedly still planning to visit the Bay Area. Instead of picketing the funeral of Eddie Arajo Jr. -- a transgendered youth who was murdered early this month -- Phelps has decided to picket several conservative East Bay churches that released a statement condemning Arajo's murder as well as the local high school, which is presenting "The Laramie Project." Uncharacteristically, the conservative talk show host strongly attacked Phelps, his tactics, his message and his entire enterprise.

I had wondered for a long time where, if anywhere, that radio station would draw the line, and now I know. There are right-wingers that even the right-wingers can't stand. At least we can agree on the most extreme bigots. It's not much, but it's something.