Hello Dalai

Watching the Mets game on the last day of the season I was struck by, besides laughter at their complete collapse down the stretch, the number of people in the stands that were crying.

Seriously? Tears?

Now the kid who was put on the cover of the New York Post is understandable, kids cry over pointless, stupid shit all the time. That's what kids do. But I saw many middle-aged women and men crying. I mean really, this is what can make you cry? Your damn team loses? Come on, it's a game.

Ask anybody who knows me, I love baseball. But to get that upset over my team not making the playoffs? Not on your life. It's called perspective. The Mets winning would not have made your life any better and their losing does not make your life any worse. It's entertainment. Get a life.

You know what has gotten me choked up lately? Burma.

I followed the situation of the protests happening in Burma with great interest. With thousands of people demonstrating against the evil military junta, could this finally be the moment in history when democracy and freedom begin to come back to Burma? Or will it be crushed again, like in 1988?

We all know the answer now of course. It crushed my heart to see the images coming out of Burma after the regime sent in its soldiers to put down the uprising. With the little information that could be obtained it is thought that hundreds are dead and many more injured. No way to know how many more were detained, but it quite realistically could be in the thousands. The Buddhist monks who had been flooding the streets everyday in protest against the regime were suddenly nowhere to be found, either taken away or blockaded inside their own monasteries.

Once again the junta has stamped out dissent.

What followed was basically a bunch of lip service from world leaders but no real call to action. Bush froze a few American-based assets of the regime's generals (of which there really isn't very much) and sent his spokeswoman out to speak a collection of meaningless platitudes.

Russia, Thailand, China and India, countries that benefit from making deals with the junta for Burma's resources were, of course, silent.

You know who else has been effectively silent? The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the world's Buddhists. Beyond this written statement, he has said and done pretty much nothing. He has not gone to the media to voice his protest against the regime of Burma. He has led no marches or protests at any Burmese consulate or embassy.

He offered his prayers. And some empty words about supporting democracy. That's it.

The true colors of the Lama come shining through. Like all religious leaders, his true concern is not his people but his own hold on power and prominence.

If he were to speak out against the junta of Burma he may piss of his Indian masters, who don't want to anger the Burmese regime lest they decide to not sell them raw materials anymore. The Dalai Lama remains muted so India allows him to stay and maintain his power over an autonomous area they have granted him.

That may also have something to do with why this man of "peace" has been a vocal supporter of India's nuclear weapons program.

His statement supporting democracy in Burma is laughable considering he doesn't even support democracy for his own home of Tibet. If China left Tibet tomorrow (something I wholeheartedly support) would there be free elections there? That answer would be no. The Dalai Lama does not want to free the Tibetan people for the cause of representative democracy. He wants to be returned to his throne.

He claims to be the leader of Tibet by divine right, anointed by god himself to rule over the people of that land and answerable to no one but god. He claims this right as he is supposed to be the reincarnation of the original Dalai Lama, a story as silly as the resurrection of Jesus.

He doesn't sound like someone who supports democracy to me. Dissent is no more tolerated under the rule of the Dalai Lama than it is under the rule of the Chinese. Possibly less violently put down, but put down nonetheless. A cute old man in a robe as a dictator is still a dictator.

While the monks of Burma bravely fight against repression and for a return of democracy to their homeland, and Aung San Suu Kyi continues to live under house arrest, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism tours the world gathering support for the cause of restoring the power and glory of his monarchy.