On 11-11-11 add your voice to the call for an end to all wars!
CODEPINK joins Vets for Peace and Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace in an anti-war extravaganza at the site of the Arlington West art installation and memorial:
Friday, Nov. 11, 10:30 am
North of Santa Monica Pier
Ocean & Colorado, Santa Monica 90401
Money for People’s Needs, Not Corporate War Profiteers' Greed!
As women struggle the world over to be heard as powerful and passionate, so do those who Occupy LA. Join the latest Women and Allies meeting Friday to make plans and take action.
The two most famous, or at least biggest selling, pieces of literature are biblical and Shakespearean. Both are frauds. The gods may have inspired the Bible over time, but men reworked, reframed, and redacted much of it. It is almost unrecognizable. Yet, God is still credited with it as if the Vatican had done nothing to conceal large portions of it.
But the King James Version is little better, and its Jewish roots are far from pure. They extend back to Sumerian tales. In fact, the mythology of the world has more in common than details (pronunciation of names, peoples, lands) to differentiate it. But religion is sacred. And no one can question it.
Shakespeare, on the other hand, can be questioned. And he did not write the works attributed to him. This has long been known by scholars. But it is such an unpopular position -- because, after all, they are great works -- that few get any mileage out of saying so. There are many accolades for crediting the gay, poorly educated commoner William. This obscures the real artist, likely an aristocrat banned from writing for the decadent theater of the Elizabethan Age.
"Anonymous" investigates the matter. Roland Emmerich directs this political thriller, a drama on drama, set in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. The plot is focused on the mystery surrounding the works of William Shakespeare and the alleged true author of the famous theatrical texts that have become the foundation of Western culture -- the Earl of Oxford Edward De Vere.
In 2006, Amy Winehouse (1984-2011) became a star, the voice of a new generation, by insisting she would not be going to "Rehab." She would be dead within five years.
Already a star in the U.K., Winehouse makes her debut on U.S. TV with "Rehab."
Singer Found Dead in Apartment
LONDON, England - Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse [with her violent partner in prison] was found dead at her flat in north London, police said. She was 27 years old. The Grammy award-winning [neo-]soul singer struggled with well-documented drink and drug addictions. Her death is being treated as unexplained. "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 4:05 pm (local time) today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased," a police statement said. "On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead..." More
Drunk and/or stoned, Amy Winehouse is booed during comeback tour, live in Belgrade on June 18, 2011. She then launches into "Back To Black."
Rehab without a "Higher Power"
Recovery from addictions of all kinds is possible in a Buddhist context. Buddhism is nontheistic (not dependent on a God for "salvation"/enlightenment). Many Buddhists are theists, but many others are atheistic, agnostic, or undecided.
Not recognizing a supreme being as a higher power makes traditional 12-Step programs unpalatable. (Of course, the nature of the "higher power" one chooses need not be a god, but that is definitely how most participants treat it as part of their recovery.
Thanks to mavericks like Kevin Griffin, who wrote One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Stepsit is quite possible to successfully overcome addiction and unrelenting craving in a nontheistic context.
A Buddhist Version of the 12 Steps
Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction -- that our lives had become unmanageable.
Step 2 - Came to believe that spiritual practice could restore us to sanity.
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the power of the Dharma.
Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Step 5 - Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our suffering.
Step 6 - Were entirely ready to let go of all these defects of character.
Step 7 - Humbly asked for our shortcomings to be removed through prayer and meditation.
Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with reality and to live a life with more wisdom and compassion.
Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(RussiaToday, June 27, 2011) A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza is set to depart from Greece. Israel has already warned that it will not let the convoy reach its destination [even if it has to kill defenseless peace activists like it did last time]. It also said foreign journalists who take part will be banned from working in Israel for 10 years. Imagine Jewish Americans standing up to the nearly all-powerful Israel (in cahoots with the US Department of War and our many clandestine services). It's amazing. It gives me hopes that the outrageous criminal behavior of Israel, who calls it "defense" and "victimization" while Palestine withers away strangled by a capricious blockade, repeated infiltration by tanks and soldiers, aerial bombing, wall building, land usurpation, checkpoints... It's too much.
It was too much years ago. How Gaza has survived, as a helpless "Arab world" looks on, is unknown. And why the US government presses Israel to utterly destroy it makes less sense. It's all very biblical, as if the powers that be insist on an end time narrative spelled out in Middle Eastern terms. Armageddon is a place after all. It is more famous for a future war to be waged there if Israel and Western powers have their way. One Israel is worth ten CIAs, a CIA official once observed. We [the CIA, Pentagon, NSA, DOD] need it. But is incurring the hatred of the world as we collude in extravagant ways with Israel to cover our war crimes and theirs? Those veto votes sure come in handy. Germany, the world's monetary ruler, can't even get hold of such a vote. Palestine can't even get NATO recognition.
We have to remember, "Israel" is a complete fabrication with subsequent biblical justification, not the other way around as we are told. History has to adjust to fit the human plans on the ground. And any scholar who points out discrepancies is quickly dismissed, denounced, and when possible destroyed. Yet people speak out against anti-Arab injustice. Conscience compels us even as allegiance to Judaism or Zionism compels many American and Israeli Jews to muzzle themselves, sit on their hands, look the other way, or actually try to defend the right wing Israeli government no matter what. And Christian fundamentalists in America leap on the bandwagon to make points with a tribal God they feel sure wants them to destroy "infidels" (like Arabs in the Holy Land) and defend the "chosen people" no matter what.
"Slut walks," such as this one in London, protest the abuse of women (AFP/Carl Court).
Russian Blondes Wanted for Islamic Sexual Slavery
When Muslim sheikhs discuss the topic of the sexual enslavement of women -- which is allowed in the Qur’an -- it sounds politically incorrect to the majority of Muslims.
They have long forgotten that slavery is a well-established institution in Islam. Saudi Arabia officially abolished slavery only in 1962, not because Islam made the Saudis do it, but because the US-backed Saudis wanted to save face after an international cry against modern slavery.
But now some Muslims are demanding its return. So Muslim spinmeisters are advocating the embarrassing, but legal, topic through the mouths of Muslim women.
A Kuwaiti woman (Salwa al-Mutair), a former candidate to the Kuwaiti parliament and called an “activist,” spoke to the Kuwait Times about the establishment of a new law permitting men to buy and sell non-Muslim girls, captured in jihad, as sexual slaves.
It is said said that this is in order to protect Muslim men against seductive sexual immorality. The Arabic Al Arabiya had more details on what Ms. Salwa al-Mutairi is advocating:
Ms. Mutairi was nice enough to put the minimum age at 15 for slave girls to be sold, whether Christian, Jew, or other. She demanded the immediate establishment of slave agencies just like maid agencies... More
I long to wake up on Memorial Day to find our country at peace with the world. Instead of mourning the young men and women who think they died fighting to protect their country, let us mourn the truth.
Let us mourn the fact that most of the time our beautiful youth died to keep our permanent war economy alive. They died for what Eisenhower referred to as the "military-industrial complex." They died for the power and profit of strangers.
Had they thought of the expression “die for your country” as a public relations con job would they have risked their lives in such massive numbers? Of course not. But profiteers and presidents are so good at selling war… and most of us are so bad at knowing when we’re being manipulated.
It hurts us to recognize that practically since its inception our country has been in a state of perpetual war. This is a cause, not for celebration but for shame.
Listeners feel I’m being disrespectful of our fallen perhaps? Am I not taking into consideration the sacrifice, the“glory” of Memorial Day? Perhaps this should be a day of prayer and religious rituals? Very well. How about this?
No one knows for sure of course, but let’s say God actually is an old guy with a white beard.
And he stood on top of a mountain holding out his arms like Charlton Heston. He had the attention of millions of armed service men and women below him about to be shipped off to war.
What would he say? I don’t know about your God, but my God would roar:
“Stop! You think you’re going off to save Democracy, to protect your country, to create freedom and equality? Know that you are going to protect the oil companies and the drone makers, Halliburton, Blackwater, Bechtel, General Electric, corporate America and the military. More
Circumcision (Male Genital Mutilation or the removal of the most sensitive part of a man's body, equivalent to the female's clitoris) should not be performed on helpless children using either religious, moral, or even preposterous medical excuses.
Who can believe that Mother Nature, Evolution, a Creator God, or naga geneticists accidentally left this small bit of protective skin on males?
What a wonderful thing that it is available for adults to choose if they buy the medical industry's scare tactics, self-interested studies, or line of reasoning. But to force it on males out of fear or our own discomfort with human sexuality and even direct mention of sex organs and erogenous zones.
If our protective sheaths were left in place, we might preserve sensitivity and not be prone to excess. And what is the real reason for excising a very special type of ultra sensitive skin? Jewish-Christian religious nonsense -- yet nowhere do biblical sources say to mutilate infants. That is simply an expedient means of fulfilling another command.
Fortunately, San Francisco and Santa Monica have the foresight to pass legislation in favor of common sense and against religiously sponsored elective surgery. Is it all simply an aesthetic thing by now? If so, the Western world will soon get used to the natural look. The current look will still be on full view with every erection and from those who fearfully opt for surgery.
Male circumcision opponents propose ballot measure in Santa Monica: A group called MGM Bill wants to make it illegal in Santa Monica to perform a circumcision, even for religious reasons, on minors. The group placed a similar measure on the Nov. 2011 ballot in San Francisco. Performing a circumcision on a boy under age 18 -- even for religious reasons -- would be illegal under a measure that a San Diego group hopes to place on Santa Monica's November 2012 ballot. A similar initiative this month from the anti-circumcision group known as MGM Bill garnered enough signatures in San Francisco to place it on that city's November ballot. MGM stands for "male genital mutilation."
San Francisco could ban male circumcision: A controversial new measure could make it onto the ballot in San Francisco in November: city resident Lloyd Schofield says that he's "on track" to gain enough signatures for his proposed measure, which would make it illegal to perform circumcision on males below the age of 18. The act would be a misdemeanor carrying a $1,000 fine. Schofield is claiming that this is a human rights issue, in part because the city has already made female circumcision illegal. Needless to say, it has angered some San Francisco residents. The Anti-Defamation League, the local Jewish Community Relations Council, the Board of Rabbis of Northern California, and the American Jewish Committee condemned the measure, saying that they were "deeply troubled by this initiative, which would interfere with the rights of parents to make religious decisions for their own families."More
Ampio premature ejaculation drug shows promise (Reuters) Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc. said its drug to treat premature ejaculation showed statistically significant results in a late-stage trial in Europe. The drug, called Zertane, is taken as needed before sexual activity and is not required to be taken on a daily basis.
In Paris, today, French president Nicolas Sarkozy rubbed shoulders with tech industry superstars, including Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg, for the inaugural eG-8 meeting. The two-day event intends to prime the conversation at the Group of Eight summit set to take place later this week in Normandy. Sarkozy took a hard line in urging governments to better regulate the Internet. "Don't let the revolution that you've begun threaten everyone's basic right to a private life and full autonomy," he told the conferences attendees. "Full transparency… sooner or later runs into the very principle of individual freedom."
Dutch Jewish Groups Face Off Against Animal Activists Opening Serve: Thieme, one of only two members of Dutch parliament representing the "far-left minority" Party for Animals, introduced a bill back in April that, according to Chabad.org, "would effectively outlaw kosher slaughtering in the Netherlands," including kosher slaughtering practices which require "that an animal be conscious when its throat is cut." Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported when the bill was first introduced that "The Animal Rights Party fervently believes that animals should not have to endure what they call torture in order to accommodate religious beliefs." In an op-ed at Radio Netherlands Worldwide entitled, "An Animal Doesn't Care About Its Killer's Faith," Thieme wrote that, despite the fact that the Qu'ran and Torah both "describe how animal products should be prepared in such a way that no such suffering is inflicting on humans or animals ... based on new insights, their methods of slaughter are in need of reform today. Religious believers can no longer justify a method that was ahead of its time 3000 years ago."
Fukushima out of control: melting down, contaminating sky and sea, being covered up.
Computer boot up and Web page loading too slow? If computers are running slower, here are some things to do to get “old reliable” running in tip-top shape again. Of course, budget-savvy Nerd Chicks are always looking for ways to save some dough, so we’ve made sure they are all FREE.
Palin lets her religion show, confuses prophecy with history (Commentary) Sarah Palin never seems far from saying things that invoke god's name or a biblical allusion. She has been known to be as blunt when sharing her religious beliefs as she is about most other issues. She spoke with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro on Saturday, telling her that Pres. Barack Obama was on the wrong side of history -- and god -- with his policy positioning on Israel. He announced that position during Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. "Anyone who studies history," Palin told Fox News, "studies the Old Testament, studies geography, understands that Israel now is surrounded by enemies at all times. It should be now that America takes a stand in defending our friends in Israel."
(May 15, 1948) Why was the creation of the state of Israel a "catastrophe," as it is remembered by the indigenous Palestinians? It is not. The Catastrophe (Nakbha) is the ongoing displacement, aggression, cultural genocide, and nonstop war brought on by Zionists seeking to create a Jewish homeland with American and British backers (who did not want Jews in their own countries).
Utilizing interpretations of the Bible to justify behavior more characteristic of -- God forbid -- Nazis? It's verboten! To mention any similarity between Israeli nationalists and Nazis is "racist," "cruel," and perfectly obvious to any disinterested bystander.
The 60th commemoration of the Catastrophe coincides with celebrations of the birth of Israel, our great partner throughout the geopolitical Middle East. Will we live to regret our collusion as a terrorist state with another terrorist state while labelling all Arabs "terrorists," or will God high-5 us on the Day of Rapture, which is Saturday, May 21, 2011 (possibly December 21, 2012)?
FamilyRadio.com (what "no man knows") predicts a great earthquake prior to doomsday, and that seems to have occurred near Libya. Rumors of an 8.4 tremor are circulating, but curiously any such news has been blacked out of the US Geological Survey site, which usually reports even minor shakers in almost real time. HAARP is armed and running; the earthquakes are coming and with it famine. It's neither nature nor God doing it.
JERUSALEM (Reuters, May 19) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes to Washington on Friday to rally opposition to a Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition of statehood.
There is little indication the right-wing leader will, or can, offer new peacemaking ideas to persuade Palestinians not to take a detour at the U.N. General Assembly in September around the brick wall that the U.S. peace efforts have run into.
A unity deal between Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and the Islamist group Hamas has further dampened chances of a breakthrough. The accord signed this month, dealt a "tremendous blow" to peace, Netanyahu said. More
Huffington Post, Rev. James Martin, S.J. Catholic priest and author, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
Palm Sunday raises at least two important spiritual questions for Christians: What does it mean to be like Jesus? And what does it mean to take up our crosses, just like he did? First, you don't need to go looking for your cross. Life gives them to you. Whether it's an illness or a tough family relationship or trouble in school or problems on the job. The real cross is the one that you don't want. Because it's hardly a cross if you want it. Just like it was for Jesus. Second, we are asked by Jesus to accept our crosses. Now, what does that mean? More
On 11-11-11 add your voice to the call for an end to all wars!
