1.09.2012
It is the coal barons, not activists, who threaten society The Age
It is the coal barons, not activists, who threaten society
The Age - 1 hour ago
As burning coal is the single greatest contributor to the climate crisis, it therefore "poses the single greatest threat to civilisation and life on this planet'' (in the words of Professor James Hansen, NASA's top climatologist).
Obama strips off to play quarterback in Hawaii: Who's going to tackle ... Daily Mail
Daily Mail -
By Lee Moran Flexing his pecs and showing off his speed, President Barack Obama stripped off for some beach football to round off his Christmas holidays in Hawaii.
Destined for climate crash Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal -
But what's at stake are the lives of future generations, all because Harper refuses to believe that global warming is caused by humans.
1.08.2012
2 More Monks Self-Immolate in Southwestern China Voice of America
Voice of America -
January 08, 2012 2 More Monks Self-Immolate in Southwestern China VOA News China says a former Tibetan monk has died after he and another man set themselves on fire in southwestern China - the latest in more than a dozen self-immolations by Tibetan ...
Climate Change Is Undeniable and Must Be Addressed Now, Says Former U.S. ... ThinkProgress
 | ThinkProgress - By Climate Guest Blogger on Jan 8, 2012 at 12:46 pm by Ted Kaufman, reposted from HuffPost We are beginning a new year, and the silence in Congress is still deafening. |
Deployment of thousands of US troops in Israel, a start of war against Iran? Al-Arabiya
Al-Arabiya -
Frank Gorenc, commander of the US's Third Air Force based in Germany, as saying that there will be a deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel. An Egypt-based military expert, major general Jamal Mathloum, said that “there is a ...
3 Anti-Whaling Activists Detained on Japanese Ship Voice of America
 | Voice of America - January 08, 2012 3 Anti-Whaling Activists Detained on Japanese Ship VOA News An anti-whaling group said Sunday that three activists are being held on a Japanese whaling ship after sneaking aboard the vessel overnight. |
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Palestinian Children Detained Oppressively in Isolation The People's Voice
The People's Voice -
by Stephen Lendman DCI/Palestine "is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children," according to international law principles.
Explicit price on carbon Hindu Business Line
Hindu Business Line -
The paper opens by acknowledging that placing a price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a tax or a tradable permit scheme, is a cost-effective way to internalise the external pollution cost. The author hastens to point out that, ...
1.07.2012
Godless christians: Hindus denounce ad attacking Huntsman's faith, values CNN
Hindus denounce ad attacking Huntsman's faith, values
CNN - 11 minutes ago
By Moni Basu, CNN The vdeo shows Jon Huntsman with Asha Bharati, wearing the red tikka, a mark associated with the sacred in Hinduism.
Jon Huntsman rips web video posted by Ron Paul supporters featuring his ... New York Daily News
Huntsman needles Paul over tweet Politico
Note to a dearly Loved JW friend - 'Why do we trample the Pearl?'
This Friend of 3 years now, contacted me after a several month pause that I thought might be permanent:
Well, I'm very predictable. I feel great Joy, and astonishment, in hearing from you. Not that you should care, but I feel great Love, and amazement toward you.
I find great Joy in your words about you and I are both fighting the Beast - that is extremely helpful and encouraging language for me to understand you better.
I don't need you to read on. I've fabricated none of it for you, but I've allowed to pour forth what is in me recently, because I find it of immense value, it pertains to my caring for you, but you may find it mean, disrespectful.... You won't, I know that by now. Amazing. Nor do I EVER find beliefs that you have that I may find abhorrent, horrifying, heartbreaking - hurtful. You don't hold your beliefs to inflict pain on me any more than I do to you. Quite the opposite.
I sleep on the steps of a church immediately adjacent to the north side of the White House property - you probably walked past it when you were in DC. I get a warm plate of food every night from a food for the homeless truck that comes to McPherson park, about 3 blocks from there, about 5:45, eat, and then repair to those church steps, work for several hours, then sleep till the next morning, scurrying away like a roach before the church folk arrive.
Wednesday evenings two different church groups come to give stuff to the homeless - sandwiches from one, cooked meal from another. I settle in and work anyway. The sandwich folks, several guys from a suburban church start up, have, to our mutual gladness spoken with me at length the last 3 wednesdays, an hour or more each time. As with you and I, we've been fully open with each other, but it is really hard to get down to understanding each other's beliefs -it takes a long, long, long time, I'm not sure why - unrecognized assumptions - plays a big part in the delay; as you and I continually find, at least, I do. This last Wednesday was the first I understood in the least that Brian, very nice fellow, believes as you do I think, that the Bible is inerrant, every word true, every word from God. As I do with you, I find much Goodness in him, none the less. I doubt our dialog will continue much longer - too big a chasm on that one issue alone, but I've found our discussion very stimulating, especially yielding these two revelations for me in my subsequent pondering:
* Imagine that Donald Trump, one of Satan's guys, wins a 10 billion dollar lottery. He'd be happy, right? Not if he reacted as 'christian's' have to Jesus GOOD NEWS, religion of Brotherhood, Universal Family, Insane Humanity.... No, if Trump received the lottery winning like the 'church' has - oh, he'd ask, 'ok, multi billion dollar payout, but what's the REALLY good news? And, well, is the billions from Satan himself? I don't want it if it is not. And, do I get to live in his kingdom after I die, I have little interest in the 10's of billions if not.... My point is, Jesus teaching, His Religion - Brotherhood, Universal Family, the Heart as Our Father's Kingdom - and these are what His teachings clearly say - My God, that's the 10 billion, trillion, quadrillion dollar lottery!!!!! And yet, the 'church,' 'christians,' 'jw's'... Oh, yeah, we kinda believe that too, but now let's talk about the REALLY important stuff - Inerrant, old testament, old t, ot, ot, ot, revelations, yadda, yadda, yadda.... What? Brotherhood, Universal Family, Insane Humanity... THIS IS DIVINE, HOLY, COMPLETE, THE PEARL OF INESTIMABLE VALUE - except not to the church, christians, jw's.... And you all may be right. But every fiber of me, every day of experience in 60 years, says to me you are wrong in all this, well intended some of you, like I know you are, but Dead wrong.
* ""The external worship of God cannot be combined with works of love. The old teaching of the external worship of God cannot be combined with my teaching of works of love to one's neighbor." The Gospel in Brief, Tolstoy. I've known and adored the Truth of this and Tolstoy's complete translation for many years, but only after my last dialog with Brian did it hit me how unavoidably true it is. Jesus religion, Brotherhood, Universal Family, by whatever name, IS A RELIGION OF THE HEART, that domain of our nervous system - inerrancy of the bible, endless reading, and reading, and reading, and talking, and teaching of old test, old test, revelations, old test... rules, do this, don't do that, InerrancyYADDA, YADDA, YADDA. Duh. Huh? Joe, ALL THIS MAY BE CORRECT!!!!! IF SO, GOD IS A MEAN, NASTY, TWISTED, EGOCENTRIC CREATURE THAT CREATED US TO 'SEE' TRUTH, IF WE TRIED REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD, BUT BUILT A RELIGION ON MUTILATING, TWISTING, CRIPPLING, TORTURING.... THAT SAME ABILITY. That's just not how it is.
In a world crippled by such dogmatic, horrible religions of the Head and Flesh, forever, Jesus gave us GOOD NEWS! Be like a child (uh, did he say bible scholar? Scribe? Pharisee? Uh, no - child) and enter in. To me there are three, unmistakable 'bottom lines,' totalities of his Teachings - TOTALITIES!!!!!!!!!!! THE WHOLE GOSPEL!!!!
* 'The parable of the Good Samaritan' - wasn't a Jew, didn't know the old testament, didn't believe in the judeo christian god, didn't know jesus... but was held up by Jesus as an Icon of His Religion of Universal Brotherhood. -
* 'Whoever will sit at my right hand, and my left hand, is not for me to say. Whoever is the servant of ALLLLLLLLLLLL.' Did he forget the parts about bible scholar, old testament scholar, believing in the juedeo christian god, holy spirit.... Maybe. I find that a murderous, horrible, deadly idea.
* 'I'm gunna make it real simple for you - 1. Love God (all of Creation, and the Creative powers thereof) with your whole mind, heart, soul..., and 2. Love your Brother as yourself." UNIVERSAL FAMILY.
Ok, everyone for the last 1800 years says - uh, there is a grain of truth in all that, yeah, it is important, BUT NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANT STUFF... YADDA, YADDA, YADDA.....
Oh my God Joe. It makes my head explode, and Jesus' too.
STOP BEING CHRISTIANS. START BEING CHRISTIAN!!!!!!!!! I HEAR HIM SCREAMING AT US!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP TALKING, STOP TEACHING - JUST DO IT. GO BE FAMILY, TO THE LEAST OF THESE. SHUT UP! DO IT, I hear Him screaming!!!! BE LIKE A CHILD, AND ENTER IN!!!!!!!
Brother, I have no thought of convincing you. Just this morning a thought that has often played in my mind came to a much higher clarity as I was awakening. Jesus imagery of 'Fisherman.' Yes, I've know I was right, but I wasn't seeing how totally correct it is. I'm closer this morning. Jesus always conducted himself that way, because among men, nothing else is as productive. The only productive way is to throw in the lure, the Gospel, wait a bit, see if there are bites, notice if there are not. If yes, keep fishing there. If not, dive in and try to convince the fish to bite. :-) No, it can't be done, the fish are 'alive' and see it, and bite, or they don't. There is no convince. It can't happen. If they are 'dead,' it they don't 'see,' if they don't bite, move on, and try again. Sow, sow, sow....
I Love you, and am amazed by you, no matter what. I LOVE THE LOVE IN YOU, THE BROTHERHOOD, THE COURAGE IN YOU. I hate that it is so much covered up by all the other stuff, for you, and for the world. Oh well.
Loving your forever, no matter what,
sl
ps: This was as much a surprise to me yesterday, as it could be
The 'One,' 'True,' 'Inerrant' DVD
Also to my beloved, and highly respected JW friend:
pps: This headline was profoundly insightful I found. I was a bit horrified that my own mind hadn't come up with this - lazy, distracted, slow:
Santorum wants to impose 'Judeo-Christian Sharia' CNN
Oh well.
Joe, I don't need for you to read on. This is really direct, and could be hurtful. It's up to you. But this is totally how I see it.
This is the best way I can share what's on my mind. Imagine that a human from the 1200's, educated, aware, courageous, sane... gets frozen in ice, scientists find her in 2012, thaw her out, and she's back to normal! She sees and hears an old victrola, record player, playing a beautiful symphony. 'OH MY GOODNESS,' SHE SHARES HER REVELATION, 'THIS DIVINE CREATION, THIS MACHINE, DESIGNED TO PLAY THIS BEAUTIFUL SONG. THIS IS THE SONG, THE MACHINE FROM GOD! THIS IS THE ONE TRUE MACHINE/MUSIC.
We are that machine, that victrola, our nervous system, our Head and Flesh is. And of course, she is wrong, obviously. She had the experience of seeing that machine play one particular record, but she assumed, she Believed, understandably, that the Machine was designed to play THAT EXACT PIECE - and therefore that was the one True Belief, from God, Divine.... We of course know that the record player can play an infinite variety of records.
We are that machine, from my perspective, since I was very young. A Muslim, and there are some of great Love, like you, is born seeing One record, Islam, playing on the machine, maybe making Divine music, and concludes, under considerable pressure, encouragement, example... from those around her, that THIS IS THE ONE TRUE RECORD / RELIGION!!!! And honestly, truly, from her being she believes! Uh, no, it is not. It is ONE of the religions that excites a capacity of our nervous system, giving a sense of order, peace, comfort, clarity, power, protection.... But there is nothing more true about it than Buddhism, JW, Christianity.....
With all due respect, I know that you could argue forever, on end, with every bit of your good being, that what you see, your understanding of JW, is clerly THE true religion, The true understanding. And you could be correct. But objectively, in any way that the responsible human nervous system is capable of, there is NOTHING more Objective, Truth Based, Factual... about your views, than that of the Good Muslim, Jew, Pagan.... In each one of them there is EXACTLY a 'Joe,' as articulate, as honest, as bright, as convinced, as well informed, as loving, as compassionate, as sure..... The Human nervous system has the ability to experience a religion as the one True religion, and to argue and fight to the death on that belief. That is for Certain. But that beyond that there is one iota of Truth to one Religion being more True in that sense than another is, absurd, Absurd. All evidence to the contrary. One religions' Sharia is the next religions absurd, hateful Terrorism.
This is so obvious to me. Yes, conceivably I'm wrong. No. There are two TYPES of religion - those that 'play' on the Head and Flesh - christianity, islam, jw, buddhism.... And those that play on the opposite part of our nervous system, the Heart - BY WHATEVER NAME, WITHOUT CREED, ANY MORE THAN THE EYES HAVE, NEED, OR WILL TOLERATE A CREED - Brotherhood, Universal Family, Universal Love, Insane Humanity.
xx sl
pps: This headline was profoundly insightful I found. I was a bit horrified that my own mind hadn't come up with this - lazy, distracted, slow:
Santorum wants to impose 'Judeo-Christian Sharia' CNN
Joe, I don't need for you to read on. This is really direct, and could be hurtful. It's up to you. But this is totally how I see it.
This is the best way I can share what's on my mind. Imagine that a human from the 1200's, educated, aware, courageous, sane... gets frozen in ice, scientists find her in 2012, thaw her out, and she's back to normal! She sees and hears an old victrola, record player, playing a beautiful symphony. 'OH MY GOODNESS,' SHE SHARES HER REVELATION, 'THIS DIVINE CREATION, THIS MACHINE, DESIGNED TO PLAY THIS BEAUTIFUL SONG. THIS IS THE SONG, THE MACHINE FROM GOD! THIS IS THE ONE TRUE MACHINE/MUSIC.
We are that machine, that victrola, our nervous system, our Head and Flesh is. And of course, she is wrong, obviously. She had the experience of seeing that machine play one particular record, but she assumed, she Believed, understandably, that the Machine was designed to play THAT EXACT PIECE - and therefore that was the one True Belief, from God, Divine.... We of course know that the record player can play an infinite variety of records.
We are that machine, from my perspective, since I was very young. A Muslim, and there are some of great Love, like you, is born seeing One record, Islam, playing on the machine, maybe making Divine music, and concludes, under considerable pressure, encouragement, example... from those around her, that THIS IS THE ONE TRUE RECORD / RELIGION!!!! And honestly, truly, from her being she believes! Uh, no, it is not. It is ONE of the religions that excites a capacity of our nervous system, giving a sense of order, peace, comfort, clarity, power, protection.... But there is nothing more true about it than Buddhism, JW, Christianity.....
With all due respect, I know that you could argue forever, on end, with every bit of your good being, that what you see, your understanding of JW, is clerly THE true religion, The true understanding. And you could be correct. But objectively, in any way that the responsible human nervous system is capable of, there is NOTHING more Objective, Truth Based, Factual... about your views, than that of the Good Muslim, Jew, Pagan.... In each one of them there is EXACTLY a 'Joe,' as articulate, as honest, as bright, as convinced, as well informed, as loving, as compassionate, as sure..... The Human nervous system has the ability to experience a religion as the one True religion, and to argue and fight to the death on that belief. That is for Certain. But that beyond that there is one iota of Truth to one Religion being more True in that sense than another is, absurd, Absurd. All evidence to the contrary. One religions' Sharia is the next religions absurd, hateful Terrorism.
This is so obvious to me. Yes, conceivably I'm wrong. No. There are two TYPES of religion - those that 'play' on the Head and Flesh - christianity, islam, jw, buddhism.... And those that play on the opposite part of our nervous system, the Heart - BY WHATEVER NAME, WITHOUT CREED, ANY MORE THAN THE EYES HAVE, NEED, OR WILL TOLERATE A CREED - Brotherhood, Universal Family, Universal Love, Insane Humanity.
xx sl
Meghan McCain: Rick Santorum's Opposition To Gay Marriage 'Gross' On Top Magazine
On Top Magazine -
By Carlos Santoscoy Meghan McCain, the daughter of Arizona Senator John McCain, on Friday took a swipe at Rick Santorum's opposition to gay marriage.
Climate warning on rare animals Adelaide Now
Adelaide Now -
NATIONS may need to abandon saving certain animals because of climate change and habitat loss, scientists say. The University of Queensland and scientists from the CSIRO said that for the first time they have measured the relationship between climate ...
Acid test for evil twin of climate change Stuff.co.nz
Stuff.co.nz -
Scientists label this acid trend "the evil twin of climate change". And they are concerned that shell-thinning could threaten the survival of many small marine creatures and in turn impact on animals further up the food chain, including fish caught ...
$3 to Lunch with the Prez - Power lunch for the people? Obama dines with winners of campaign's contest for ... Washington Post
Power lunch for the people? Obama dines with winners of campaign's contest for ...
Washington Post - 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON — In a sort of power lunch for the not-so-powerful, President Barack Obama broke bread Friday with four winners of a contest for people who give to his campaign in small amounts. The suggested donation to enter the drawing: $3. ...
US IS GODLESS: US aid embargo pulls plug on Palestinian 'Sesame Street' RT
US aid embargo pulls plug on Palestinian 'Sesame Street'
RT - 4 hours ago
An iconic Palestinian children's program modelled on the popular US show Sesame Street is under threat following America's decision to freeze nearly US $200 million of aid to Palestine following its accession to the UN cultural body, UNESCO.
1.06.2012
South Florida prepares for rising seas Sun-Sentinel
Sun-Sentinel -
The proposal by Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties calls for 108 actions to deal with rising sea levels and other consequences of global warming. Among the steps: Redesigning low-lying roads to keep them above water, ...
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