Washington Post (blog) -
JERUSALEM - A Palestinian prisoner on Tuesday agreed to end his 66-day hunger strike after reaching a deal with Israel that will free him in April, the Israeli Justice Ministry said.
2.21.2012
Global warming increases health risks for Inuits Summit County Citizens Voice
Summit County Citizens Voice -
“Under any climate change scenario you consider, this is going to increase,” she says. “Waterborne diseases are not just an Arctic issue; they are global. The World Health Organization projects that most of the climate change disease burden in the 21st ...
The Pedophiles Guys: Jury selection to begin in Philadelphia church abuse scandal Reuters
Reuters -
By Dave Warner | PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A criminal trial in the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese pedophilia scandal gets underway on Tuesday, a case likely to be watched closely as one defendant is the first high-ranking US cleric to go to trial in ...
2.20.2012
Israel shackles Palestinian hunger striker The Guardian
The Guardian -
A Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than eight weeks is being kept shackled to a hospital bed by the Israeli authorities, despite warnings that he may be close to death.
UVA students on hunger strike to protest employee payWDBJ7
The Indypendent -
Twelve students at the University of Virginia on Saturday began a hunger strike for a living wage policy for university employees.
California Prisoner Dies During Hunger StrikeThe Epoch Times
Reuters -
By Laird Harrison | OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - A 27-year-old convicted murderer has died while on a hunger strike to protest restrictions on access to health, good food, legal services and other amenities in a segregation unit at a California ...
Israeli Court Speeds Hearing for Palestinian Hunger Striker New York Times
Palestinian hunger striker appeals to Israel's Supreme Court
Haaretz - 5 hours ago
Catherine Ashton says EU is following Khader Adnan's case 'with great concern'; Adnan has been on hunger strike for 63 days to protest his administrative ...
International: Protestors call for Arab hunger striker's release Ynetnews
In-Depth: Israeli Court Speeds Hearing for Palestinian Hunger Striker New York Times
Animal rights group says drone shot down t and d
http://thetandd.com/animal-rights-group-says-drone-shot-down/article_017a720a-56ce-11e1-afc4-001871e3ce6c.html
Gingrich mocks Obama's environmental policies USA TODAY
USA TODAY -
By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Newt Gingrich took aim at President Obama's environmental policies today during a town hall meeting in Oklahoma, where the former House speaker hopes to do well on Super Tuesday.
Khamenei's outlook dims hope for Iran nuclear deal Reuters
Reuters -
By Alistair Lyon | LONDON (Reuters) - As tensions over Iran's nuclear program ratchet higher once again, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's aversion for the West remains a formidable barrier to any diplomatic solution.
MUST READ: Civilisation faces 'perfect storm of ecological and social problems' The Guardian
The Guardian -
The stark assessment of the current global outlook by the group, who include Sir Bob Watson, the government's chief scientific adviser on environmental issues, US climate scientist James Hansen, Prof José Goldemberg, Brazil's secretary of environment ...
The self-demonization of Israel by Israel Ynetnews
Ynetnews -
And its calls for one state of Palestine presumably in accordance with what was proclaimed as a clear and universal consensus on international law might be described as either utopian or wildly out of touch with reality and most especially, ...
Israeli occupation of Palestine is a crime against humanity Daily Sundial
Daily Sundial -
By Tareq Seikaly The Arab/Israeli or Palestinian/Israeli conflict has been an ongoing struggle since the creation of Israel in 1948, as many may already know.
'Pleasure, like Cancer, is per se Evil, Deadly, Life destroying. One can survive a small amount of either.' SL (no detail)
'Pleasure, like Cancer, is per se Evil, Deadly, Life destroying. One can survive a small amount of either.' SL (no detail)
'Who, What Generates Serious Loving? Summary.' SLoving (vid, transcript, graphic)
CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO. TRANSCRIPTION IN PROGRESS.
'Who, What Generates Serious Loving? Summary.' sLoving -
As I said yesterday, and this is a summary of the more detailed version that's up today, but hopefully this is what you should really focus on. I need in order to guide my own life, understand were Loving comes from.
In the same way that the first-order priority for photosynthesis is the availability of appropriate levels of sunlight, and the first-order priority for basic human life is water and food, the analogous substance for objectively, for all humane life, is loving, the creative orientation as opposed to the destructive orientation, the giving orientation as opposed to the selfish orientation. My life's been devoted to exploring and discussing, and living this so I will not belabor it now. But yesterday and today is my next stage at what for me is an important look at - where does Loving come from? I have no illusions that this analysis is precise, but I suspect that by orders of magnitude, I'm experiencing that by orders of magnitude it is useful for me, might be useful for you.
My starting point was individuals. I'm an individual and was and am trying to understand who are the people I can model myself after, attempt to Model myself, to create myself after; that have fundamentally increased the level of loving on planet Earth.
And quite frankly yesterday and today has been a depressing sobering and empowering view that maybe no one ever has. As you can see I've looked at individuals and then moved on to look at movements, organizations, and professions. I've looked the number of individuals, my guess, my estimate, that are saved per year. A Jesus was instrumental in saving me and yet he's been dead for 2000 years. Also, the number destroyed per year not to be laid at Jesus feet, but the abomination called c'ristianity created after him has been responsible for the death of millions like 12 million native Americans in the name of Spanish c'ristianity. So how many are destroyed? That was explicitly, how many collaterally? (see column in photo) So by virtue of Christian fundamentalism, which is about anything everything except for loving. I'm not suggesting malice of forethought here, but how much Loving is destroyed by the existence of such things? If one then subtracts as I have from saved per year - destroyed per year - collateral damage per year one comes up with, I came up with a 'net saved' and for this summary this chart is sorted by this column 'net saved.' And then the final column I looked at, and I was quite surprised when I thought of the King or a Gandhi, I thought of people that saved, that is moved from dead head and flesh, are addictive head and flesh, into the part of our nervous system Heart, tens, hundreds of thousands, millions of people. But my focus now is showing me that, well, short-term they did that, but not long-term. So let's look now, quickly, at the types of things I looked at , and I'll guess there are 50 or more. A loving rich, example rich environment - an aboriginal village maybe, maybe among the closest we have in this country is an Amish village. A natural predisposition toward loving. Who knows why one person in a family might be incredibly loving, like the story Little Women, where Beth is this incredibly loving individual, and the rest are pretty normal, but not heroes of loving. What seems to be a natural predisposition. A True need rich environment. Jesus the man as distinct Christianity. Christianity repulsed Gandhi. But Jesus was his greatest hero of loving. Saintly parents; the sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, his studies indicated that most saints, most heroes of loving come from a family with saintly parents. More broadly the Saint-rich life. Buddha. Teresa of Calcutta. Extreme emergency. A great academic who walks along like Norman Finkelstein. A Lust-poor environment, as opposed to a lust-rich environment ( a New Orleans, a part of the city rich with crack, or bars, or liquor stores is a lust-rich environment by comparison. So I looked at Gandhi, Obama's, MLK, Egyptian revolutionaries, Mandela, Albert Schweitzer, the psychologists that I considered great psychologists, teachers, men and women in uniform, philosophers sports figures, media figures, business people. Again these photos, this video, are sorted by the net number of people saved per year. So let's start there.
Loving rich example rich environment on planet Earth I'm guessing produces the most, 1000 per year, net loving people, I don't know. That's my immediate guess. The unexplained, I don't think it is biological, I think it is more largely the interpretation or choice but in any case, relatively unexplained; why is someone predisposed toward loving, why is Beth in Little Women so predisposed toward loving? So the one that we can't really explain, or hope to replicate, whereas the rich, loving environment we both can and should, if we really care about anyone. A true need rich environment. The psychologist Csikszentmihalyi, through his global studies, found a village in Italy, present-day Italy, up in the Alps, no electricity, relatively primitive, everyone was needed from time to get up in the morning till the time they went to bed in this agrarian town. Aboriginal natives maybe the same. How counter intuitive, we rush with our science to make resource rich environments which makes everyone really superfluous, everyone unnecessary.
The man Jesus created Gandhi, and along with my biological father created me, created Teresa of Calcutta, created King as near as I can see - it wasn't Paul, it wasn't John, it wasn't the apostles, tho they may have played a role, and it wasn't any 'Divine' Jesus, it was the man Jesus, who also inspired Tolstoy, the creator of Gandhi and maybe King. Saintly parents - Sorokin's studies indicated produce the most saints. More broadly a saint rich life. Maybe the lucky child that properly interprets the more healthy religious upbringing. I'm impressed by the self immolating of the monks, not self immolation itself, but it strikes me as heroic humanity. Seems to me it may be the most benign, most loving-creating of the religions.
Teresa of Calcutta - her nonpolitical, damn, let's go love the neediest. My respect is, to my surprise, has been high for her, but it's growing. Extreme emergencies can bring out the best in us, and some of that can be sustained. A great academic like the heroic Jew, standing up for Palestinians, Norman Finkelstein, a heroic academic life and the courage to walk the walk. Lust-poor environments, like parts of the city that aren't filled with crack, and bars and brothels. Temptation poor environments like the Amish Farm.
Let's see if there are any surprises. The Tunisian self immolator that created the Arab spring. My point is not to denigrate him but it won't be a long-term impact in terms of creating loving people. It will move some people out of physical poverty, is that bad? No, but it is not enough. Great intellectuals like Chomsky and Zinn who for much of their life haven't walked the walk in any heroic way - no significant difference. These are people that I've admired, they've helped me, but no massive difference there.
The men and women in uniform. There's a surprise to most people, although not to me or to Gandhi. They don't take the job to kill; they take the job to put their bodies between those potential victims and people and harm.
The religions are an abomination. When we look at the collateral damage, the 12 million native Americans killed, the Palestinians being tortured by so-called Jews, the suicide bombers and other terrorists, the brutalization of women by Muslims. And here's the great Killers, the business people. Is business bad per se? It's potentially the most altruizing of environments. But by and large we use it as our religion and it destroys loving.
I'll try and put this spreadsheet up online with a link in the description of this video so you can explore this explore this further.
Something else that I found interesting, which I think I suspected, but I've not looked at nearly as clearly as I am now - the people that I've revered - Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., what I wasn't seeing was how incredibly short-lived their altruizing effect was. This is not to diminished them, but it is to separate that when the goal is fundamentally material, political, liberating Libya, or bringing civil rights, when that is the explicit goal, as opposed to bringing love itself which was Jesus' goal, it may have, and it has had at times, a tremendous altruizing effect, moving people from head and flesh, to Loving, but that's not good enough. Whereas the man Jesus, who is understood by some, to simply have been a champion of loving, which can't be done in a cave; Teresa's definition remains the best I've seen. To paraphrase and take a little bit of liberty she said - love is that which cannot remain passive in the face of suffering. Love is that which runs toward suffering, to eliminate it. But her goal, and Jesus goal, was to create more loving. And an that seems to be what is the most persistent. The other heroes, the Tunisian self immolator, Francis of Assisi, whose heroic humanity has otherwise been diminished by association with a corrupt church; the people I've so admired - short-term loving they've created, but not long-term.
Something I've been very concerned with, we all should be, is destruction in the in eco-war, Earth liberation front ELF, deep green resistance, DGR, Derrick Jensen's thrust. These aren't to be denigrated; what Gandhi most reviled was not physical violence; it was cowardice, but I can't think of a time when such destruction hasn't moved people away from loving. I just don't see it as other than a self-defeating, suicidal strategy.
Obama Peacemaker: UN Nuke Inspectors to Press Iran on Weapons TIME
TIME -
By AP / NASSER KARIMI Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 (TEHRAN, Iran) - UN nuclear inspectors starting a two-day visit to Tehran on Monday sought to meet Iranian nuclear scientists and visit a key military facility as they try to gauge allegations that Iran is ...
2.19.2012
Obama Peacemaker: Iran strike talk 'premature,' top US general says CNN
CNN -
By the CNN Wire Staff (CNN) -- The United States believes talk of military strikes against Iran's nuclear program is "premature" and has advised Israel that an attack would be counterproductive, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says.
Hunger striker shines light on Israeli detention policy Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Morning Herald -
At home … Randa, the wife of Khader Adnan, with their daughter Bissan. Mr Adnan has not eaten for 64 days and doctors say he may die at any time.
Rogue Terrorist Israel: US, Britain urge Israel not to attack Iran The Associated Press
The Associated Press -
JERUSALEM (AP) - The US and Britain on Sunday urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear program as the White House's national security adviser arrived in the region, reflecting growing international jitters that the Israelis are poised to strike.
Twisted Pervert: Santorum: Santorum: Global Warming 'Not Scientifically Proven' National Journal
National Journal -
Santorum added that the debate over global warming is problematic because it is "not scientifically proven," and "when you have a world view that elevates the Earth above man," you allow for government overreach.
Swedish politician urges country to recognize Palestine Ma'an News Agency
Ma'an News Agency -
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The foreign affairs spokeswoman for Sweden's Center Party has called on her country to recognize a Palestinian state and vote for Palestinian membership at the United Nations. Kerstin Lundgren, writing in the Swedish newspaper ...
Gingrich's Limbaugh troubles spell out climate divide USA TODAY
USA TODAY -
"Scientists and scientific studies have a minimal effect on public opinion," says Drexel University sociologist Robert Brulle, lead author of a new climate attitude study in the Climatic Change journal. "What really drives public opinion on climate ...
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